Sending Animal Agriculture Offshore Would Increase Food Costs

Chuck Zimmerman

Leading off a press conference during Commodity Classic for the United Soybean Board was Vanessa Kummer, Chair. The topic was Consumer and Food Safety Costs of Offshoring Animal Agriculture (pdf). This is a Soybean Checkoff funded study. Also pictured on stage are Lewis Bainbridge, USB Director (seated) and André Williamson, Agralytica, (standing) the company that conducted the study.

Paying more for food may not be out of the question for consumers if regulations on the U.S. poultry and livestock sectors increase. In fact, consumers could pay up to $16.8 billion more annually for meat, milk and eggs if regulations are imposed on U.S. poultry and livestock farmers that raise input costs by 25 percent.

The Consumer and Food Safety Costs of Offshoring Animal Agriculture, a recent soy-checkoff-funded study, evaluated current U.S. supply and demand for poultry and livestock products and the impact of regulations on retail price. The study indicates that potential regulations could raise consumer costs. For example, requiring cage-free housing for laying hens would increase the cost of eggs from $1.68 to $2.10 per dozen, a total cost of $2.66 billion per year to U.S. consumers.

“This could have a big impact on everyone – it’s not just that dozen eggs you and I buy at the grocery store,” explains Vanessa Kummer, a soybean farmer from Colfax, N.D., and chair of the United Soybean Board (USB). “As Americans, we have abundant, nutritious and affordable food choices that rely heavily on protein from animals, and, as farmers, we continue to work hard on improvements because we share consumers’ concerns for our country’s land and resources, and the quality of America’s food.”

The report cites increased regulations that could drive up costs of production meat, milk and eggs by anywhere from 10 percent to 25 percent. It shows that a 25 percent increase in costs to animal agriculture would reduce U.S. exports by $1.1 billion and cause nearly 9,000 Americans to lose their jobs.

Listen to or download the USB press conference here: United Soybean Board Press Conference

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland
Ag Groups, Audio, Commodity Classic, Food, Soybean, USB

Partnerships at Commodity Classic Important to BASF

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF Crop Protection is one of the biggest sponsors of Commodity Classic, encompassing everything from the hotel shuttle buses to scholarships and other awards programs to the final banquets.

BASF participated in both the American Soybean Association (ASA) and National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) banquets during the 2012 Commodity Classic and was honored to have company executives speak during those events about the importance of partnerships aimed at strengthening the future of agriculture. BASF Senior Vice President North America Crop Protection Nevin McDougall (pictured) spoke at the ASA banquet, while Paul Rea, Vice President U.S. Crop Protection, spoke at the NCGA banquet.

Nevin says BASF’s partnerships with ASA and NCGA showcase how they are sustaining and supporting the future of agriculture. “The future for BASF is very bright,” Nevin said. “The ag economy in North America is very robust and with our investment in R&D and bringing new solutions that can help growers be more efficient and more productive with less impact on the environment we’ll help them to achieve the goal of feeding the world.”

Listen to or download a quick interview with Nevin here: BASF Senior VP Nevin McDougall

We sincerely appreciate our partnership with BASF as well, which helped to bring coverage of the Commodity Classic to AgWired readers. Thanks BASF!

2012 BASF Science Behind Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland
ASA, Audio, BASF, Commodity Classic, Corn, NCGA, Soybean

Visiting With American Seed Trade Association

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 341It’s time to look forward to the 2012 National Agriculture Day activities in Washington, DC. Things kick off on Thursday morning and I’ll be there again this year courtesy of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and Agriculture Council of America.

In a look ahead to this week’s activities I visited with Julie Douglas, Communications Director, ASTA, during Commodity Classic last week. Julie says there is no other industry as important as agriculture and that ASTA is very happy to support and celebrate farmers and increase awareness of all the good things they do including being good stewards of the land.

Besides attending Ag Day Activities courtesy of ASTA I will also be attending their annual meeting this year which Julie says will be held in Washington, DC for the first time in years. She says it will be an opportunity to bring together all segments of the seed industry who will be able to visit with lawmakers and educate them about the industry and need for continued funding for agricultural research. The annual meeting will not only feature an agvocacy day on Capitol Hill but sessions on conservation and phytosanitary issues as well as individual industry organizational meetings.

The ASTA 129th Annual Convention will be held June 20 – 23 at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center at
National Harbor, MD.

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Visiting with ASTA

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland
Ag Groups, ASTA, Audio, Commodity Classic, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The crop protection and specialty pesticide industries are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Ag Container Recycling Council.
  • The International Production & Processing Expo will serve as the umbrella name for the new U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, American Feed Industry Association, and American Meat Institute 2013 Expo in Atlanta.
  • China’s future economic performance and the potential implications for U.S. and global agriculture will be examined at the Farm Foundation Forum on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Email julie@farmfoundation.org for more.
  • A free mobile app that tracks agricultural commodity markets, weather and news is now available for the Android platform. Get AgReader for Android free.
Zimfo Bytes

Farm Bureau Members Donate to Hunger Program

Cindy Zimmerman

The Farm Bureau “Harvest for All” program continued to grow in service to hungry Americans in 2011.

The farm and ranch families of Farm Bureau last year raised more than $556,273 and donated more than 10 million pounds of food to the program operated through Feeding America, a total of nearly 13 million meals. In addition, farmers and ranchers tallied 10,159 volunteer hours assisting hunger groups through Harvest for All in 2011.

Members of Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers program spearhead Harvest for All across the country, but all facets of Farm Bureau contribute to the effort. For the first time, 20 state Farm Bureaus heeded the call to action. The joint effort between Farm Bureau and Feeding America is a national community action program through which farmers and ranchers can help ensure every American enjoys the bounty they produce.

Since Harvest for All was launched nine years ago, Farm Bureau families have gathered more than 49 million pounds of food, logged nearly 60,000 volunteer hours and raised more than $1.8 million in donations. Combined, the food and money donations amount to more than 55 million meals.

AFBF

Commodity Classic Cute Baby Blogging

Chuck Zimmerman

Commodity Classic is a family affair in more ways than one. I think I saw more cute babies this year than ever. This was a photo I couldn’t resist. You can find others in our online photo album too.

It’s time for the ZimmComm team to take a break since the media room is closing and I think we’re last ones in it. But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be more coverage of this year’s show. We’ve got to edit some photos and interviews and will get to that just as soon as we can.

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland
Commodity Classic

What’s New With Wheat

Cindy Zimmerman

Caught up with the execs of the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates at the 2012 Commodity Classic to find out what’s new with wheat.

What’s really new for NAWG is a brand new scholarship program with BASF just announced at the Classic, and CEO Dana Peterson says they are happy about the scholarship but sad about the circumstances that brought it about. “We are pleased to join with BASF to honor a longtime friend of wheat, Mr. Jerry Minore. He passed away just recently from a sudden illness and we were sorry to see him go,” Dana said.

Because Jerry just passed away less than a month ago, the details on the scholarship are still being developed, but Dana says they will be announced soon and available on the NAWG website.

Dana says they are thrilled with the record turnout of over 6,000 producers at Classic this year and pleased to celebrate their fifth year being one of the commodity groups that join together for the event.

Listen to my interview with Dana here: NAWG CEO Dana Peterson

I also spoke with U.S. Wheat president Alan Tracy at the wheat industry booth and he told me how excited they are about export opportunities in Asia, noting that they just celebrated their golden anniversary in Philippines. “In Asia, we continue to do very well,” he said. “I just returned from the Philippines where we celebrated the 50th anniversary of our having an office there in Manila.”

Alan says the Philippines have become at least the 5th largest market for U.S. Wheat. “This year it’s going to be 95% of their wheat comes form the United States,” Alan said, adding that the export market makes up about half of the U.S. crop in a given year.

Listen to my interview with Dana here: US Wheat President Alan Tracy

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland
Audio, BASF, Commodity Classic, Trade, Wheat

NAMA AAEA Get Together At Commodity Classic

Chuck Zimmerman

One of our sponsors here at Commodity Classic, BASF, gets involved in supporting the event in so many ways. One of them is to sponsor this year’s combined American Agricultural Editors Association and National Agri-Marketing Association reception. Pictured (l-r) Beth Burgy, Broadhead and NAMA President; Nadine Keutzer, BASF; Amy Ogburn, Padilla Speer Beardsley and Greg Horstmeier, DTN/The Progressive Farmer and AAEA President. As a member of both organizations I think I can speak for fellow members in saying how much we appreciate BASF’s support.

Beth made a point of saying that this combined event with AAEA is due to NAMA efforts to reach out and work with other industry organizations. This is part of the new strategic plan that we’re trying to implement starting this year. I am serving on the NAMA Exec Committee and was glad to see this collaboration come about.

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland
ACN, Commodity Classic, NAMA

NCGA Has Missouri Corn Membership Machine

Cindy Zimmerman

Missouri Corn Growers president Billy Thiel is a membership machine for the National Corn Growers Association.

During the NCGA Awards banquet at the 2012 Commodity Classic, Billy became the 17th member of the Walter Goeppinger Recruiter Hall of Fame, an honor which comes with a classy new blazer.

Billy led the way in recruiting new members for the NCGA in 2011, adding 811 Missouri corn growers and helping to push NCGA to a record membership of 37,l30. He also helped Missouri Corn get first place for both the largest number of new members and the largest percentage increase for the year.

Billy is pictured here in the center between Mickey Peterson of Minnesota, one of the first Hall of Famers, and NCGA president Garry Niemeyer.

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland
Commodity Classic, Corn, NCGA

Osborn Barr Honors John Becherer

Chuck Zimmerman

The United Soybean Board’s CEO, John Becherer, got a little bit of love from everyone attending the Osborn Barr reception at Commodity Classic. John is receiving this year’s National Agri-Marketing Association Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award which will be officially presented to him during next month’s Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City. However, Osborn Barr which has worked with USB for many years invited in a number of current and former board members and others for a special recognition of John here in Nashville at Cellar One.

The highlight of the event was a new rendition of the song Ring of Fire. Accompanying the band to sing the new lyrics were the current USB Chair, Vanessa Kummer and other past Chairmen. I just happened to capture the moment on video for your viewing pleasure. I know John will really appreciate this. You’re welcome John and congratulations on your very deserved award! You’ll hear Lance Burditt, Osborn Barr, explain why John is so deserving of this award. In the photo John is responding to all the love by making a few comments.

You can read the lyrics here (.doc).

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland
Agencies, Commodity Classic, USB